1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a product ordering method and system, and more particularly to a product ordering method and system which handles order processing of products such as building materials between a supplier such as a building material manufacturer and purchasers such as construction contractors and allows customers to specify products online or via the Internet using drawings prepared by CAD.
2. Description of the Related Art
Each building material manufacturer routinely deals building materials with a large number of customers including distributors such as wholesalers and construction contractors such as building contractor's offices. For normal home building, customers have to order wide-ranging types and sizes of building material while building material manufacturers maintain huge quantities of building materials with different part numbers. Consequently, both customers and building material manufacturers are forced to carry a large workload when preparing quotations and processing orders. To reduce such workload when placing and receiving orders, some building material manufacturers have come to use order processing systems which can receive orders in the form of architectural CAD drawings—floor plans in which part numbers of building materials are entered directly—and prepare quotation data automatically from the CAD drawings.
When using a conventional order processing system to quote prices automatically for order placements and receipts, the work of a building material manufacturer is divided into four stages: obtaining drawings for quotation, setting conditions for quotation, preparing a quotation, and creating a presentation. A concrete example is shown below.
1. Stage of Obtaining Drawings for Quotation
1-1. A request for quotation for housing materials is received from a construction contractor such as a building contractor's office.
1-2. Either a sales person goes to a customer site to pick up CAD drawings (in paper form) of an object to be quoted or the customer is asked to fax the drawings.
1-3. Regarding the drawings, points that need care as well as uncertainties about a fit are clarified orally or by phone.
2. Stage of setting conditions for quotation
2-1. The shape of a building and conditions for quotation are checked by a sales person who visits the customer or by phone.
2-1-1. Shape of Building
                Construction method: Wood-frame construction, 2×4 modules 910, 955, 1000, etc.        Wall thickness: 130, 145, 160, 105, etc.        Height of stories, joinery, windows, handrails, walls, etc.2-1-2. Conditions for Quotation        Items covered: Joinery, fixture lumber, floors, staircase, wall paper, exterior wall material, curtains, planting, structural material and the like, product series and the like, and product design and the like.        
3. Stage of Quotation
3-1. With a typical order processing system, CAD drawings are opened and parts with established parts numbers are manually laid out directly to the locations on the drawings which correspond to the actual locations where these products will be placed actually.
3-2. The system automatically counts the parts laid out on the CAD drawings and calculates the quantity for each part number.
3-3. The system searches a product catalog file by the product number, extracts price and other detailed information, and prepares quotation data.
When an order processing system is not used or when prices are quoted for products which are not supported, calculation is carried out as follows.
3-3-1. <Example 1: Doors>
Shapes of doors such as single swinging, single sliding, and two-leaf doors are checked on the drawings. The rooms on both sides of each door are checked in order to select among a glass door, panel door, lavatory door, Japanese-style door, and Western-style door. Door width and frame width are determined by calculating the opening size from information about modules, wall thickness, and inside corners. Desired parts numbers are searched for in catalogs, based on specified kinds of wood, designs, and colors.
3-3-2. <Example 2: Fixture Lumber and Floors>
Layouts are checked on the drawings. Products are searched for in catalogs.
The total length is divided by the length of a single unit to determine the quantity of the product.
4. Stage of Creating a Presentation
A presentation board and miniature house (model of a house) are created. A presentation board consists of images of building materials laid out around a floor plan and connected by means of leader lines to the places where they are used. A miniature house is a model of a house which is assembled from thin foamed plastic boards. Paper patterns with images of building materials printed are labeled on the wall and floor surfaces where the building materials will be used (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open 2000-56677).
4-1. Drawing data is captured into presentation board creation software and pasted.
4-2. Image data of each product to be quoted is searched for by the presentation board creation software and pasted to the presentation board on screen.
4-3. The quoted parts are indicated by leader lines on the presentation board on the screen.
4-4. A catch phrase for each product is pasted to the presentation board on the screen.
4-5. The presentation board is printed out on a color printer and is sent or hand-delivered to the customer.
4-6. Similarly, to create a miniature house, image data is captured into miniature house paper pattern creation software; elevational paper patterns of wall surfaces are created, printed out, and pasted to foamed plastic boards; and the miniature house is assembled.
Conventional online order processing systems, which do practically nothing but create quotation data, do not make full use of image data and thus present the following problems.
Specifically, if CAD drawings in a request for quotation are faxed or handed only in paper form, human intervention is necessary. Also, the original CAD data of the drawings is not delivered and thus is not available.
If drawings are received in paper form without DAD data, it is often the case that they are copied or faxed repeatedly in the process, resulting in indistinct copies. This in turn may necessitate telephone inquiries or cause errors.
Also, drawings without DAD data increases the possibility of leaving uncertainties or making mistakes.
Furthermore, since part numbers and parts are laid out on CAD drawings conventionally, if the customer wants items to be upgraded and quoted again or if the manufacturer adds or deletes items, modifications are required to rearrange parts on the drawings on CAD.
Also, if part numbers and parts are entered in CAD drawings, it is necessary to update the part library of the CAD system each time a new product is released or an existing product goes out of production.
Also, manual quotations without CAD data depend largely on skills of individuals, increasing the possibility of omissions, input errors in quantity, or calculation errors in size.
Furthermore, during preparation of a presentation board, since images, arrows, and captions are laid out manually, the results vary with the skill of the author.
Also, since photographs of products are laid out in a limited space, there is a limit to what a presentation board can express. Besides, Typical home pages of building material manufacturers contain a lot of information unnecessary for customers, making it difficult to obtain necessary product information efficiently.